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My original plan was to make pork chops with peach butter for dinner tonight, but then no peaches arrived with my grocery order, so I did a quick pivot to pork chops in lemon-caper sauce (NYT gift link) and they are delicious. I think it would also be very good with chicken if you don't eat pork (or eggplant, which seems to be my veggie substitute for meat these days, though it is more labor-intensive).

Anyway, I substituted a half-cup of chicken broth with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar for the wine and forgot to add the flour until I'd already added the broth, but it all turned out all right. Definitely recommended!

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In other news, I've had Saja Boys' Soda Pop stuck in my head all day. "Tom's Diner" vanquishes it briefly but then it returns. It's a cute song! Very catchy! I'd like to not have it in my head all day!

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Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Eagles vs KC on tv

nanila

What is your favourite fruit?
Guava. Close behind are mango, papaya, and sweet sop. I will never turn down a lychee, a peach, a plum, a satsuma, or any berries. Basically, all the fruit.
What is the last book you read?
Alan Tribble’s “The Space Environment: Implications for Spacecraft Design”. It was a real page-turner. Some good example problems, anyway.
Do you like any of your school photos?
No, not really. My smiles in them are all pretty fake.
Do you ever blow-dry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?
I’m pleased to announce that this has never, ever occurred to me.
What was the last film you watched?
No, shan’t (tell you).

musesfool

A couple weeks ago, I finally realized I was never going to go to someone else to get my hair cut, so with some encouragement from my sister, this morning, I did an extensive detangling (both before and after washing) and then trimmed about 3" off the bottom myself. Is it even? Probably not, but it was in long layers, so I don't think it really matters. It will eventually even out as it grows and I trim it. Mostly what matters is that after 3 years, the old ends have been trimmed away. And now that I know I can do it, I will try to keep up with it on a more timely basis. At least, I don't think I'll let another 3 years go by. *wry*

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The Mets did not get no-hit last night but they did lose, and then lost again today despite leading for 7.5 innings. *hands* There is something very wrong with this team, but who can say what? Sigh.

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Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Land of Hope and Dreams (live) - Bruce Springsteen

angrboda

Hole digging has commenced! I have a picture of some bare soil over on my pillowfort.

Husband helped me measure out the area and strimmed the long grass for me first (to the best of his ability. Conditions weren't very good for it), but I did all the digging myself. I have made a small start at digging it over the first time just to see how difficult that was going to be compared to lifting the turf, and the answer is A Lot Easier! Thank Cat for that! I'm glad I chose the bed for 5 square meters and not 10! As you can tell, the lawn has been wild on purpose for years, which didn't make it any easier.

I ordered the plants in a hurry yesterday, because I saw the bed I actually wanted had sold out, so I've wound up with my second choice. This one is mixed plants for biodiversity rather than native for pollinators, but to be honest, I can't think that there can be that big a difference. Doesn't really make that big a difference for me anyway.

Husband has rewarded me with a cup of tea (I'm weirdly thirsty this afternoon for some reason!) and I'm rewarding myself with a bit of Stardew Valley, which feels appropriate.

schneefink

A month ago I started taking a city rental bike for part of my way home once, sometimes twice a week, just the part that has a very nice cycle path along the river. It's barely twenty minutes, but it's something, which is better than nothing, especially since I'm not currently doing any other regular sports.
It's tricky to find something: I have to be careful because of my wrists and because of my knees (uugh), it has to be something I can motivate myself for, and currently I don't have much time either. Maybe eventually I'll join L for bouldering more often, idk.

Hades II full release is in two weeks! I was/am so excited for the game to come out but the timing is really unfortunate >.< Not only am I pretty sure I'll still be in the middle of Silksong, but it's also two weeks before an important exam so a really bad time. Ideally I'll wait until after my exam but it's going to be very difficult to avoid spoilers... Fingers crossed.

musesfool

Friday sundries:

= Wow, have I really not posted since Sunday? This week was pretty busy at work and I guess my Elementary rewatch, plus reading a very very long Batfamily time travel story (still in progress *sobs*), and also watching the Mets' downward spiral, left me uninspired.

= I didn't watch them blow a lead last night and lose, because it's so disheartening - there is like no sense that they can hold a lead or come back if they are losing. I'm only planning to watch tonight to see if they get no-hit by Jacob deGrom on his first return to Citi Field as a Texas Ranger. #the existential futility of being a mets fan <- my tag is too long for DW but it is accurate

= I did make it through week one of our family survivor football league - my niece decided on doing a survivor league this year since it is much less work for everyone than a fantasy league. In it, each week, everyone picks one team to win, and either you win and move on, or you lose and are out, though we are doing it with 2 strikes, so you can lose twice before you are out. And you can only pick each team once, so you can't, like, ride the Packers or whoever to victory every week. My strategy is basically to pick whoever is playing the New Orleans Saints, since they are predicted to be the worst team in the league this year. I made it through last week, anyway. *g*

= Usually I have my groceries delivered on Friday afternoon but somehow in my infinite wisdom last night while I was updating the order, I rescheduled it for Sunday afternoon. And then I was in a meeting from 8:30 am - 11 am this morning, so it was too late to move it back to today when I discovered what I'd done. So I left it where it was and will just order pizza for dinner tonight and then have it breakfast and lunch tomorrow as well!

= Anyway, the world is a vampire. Uh, trash fire. But there will be pizza and baseball and probably sleeping in tomorrow. Hopefully it is cool enough to leave the AC off tonight - it was for most of the week, but then last night was not. And since I had to be up an hour earlier than usual (see above re: 8:30 am meeting), I didn't want to spend precious time tossing and turning because I was too hot to sleep.

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Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Bullet with Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins (in my head)

yifu

NaNoWriMo is as good as, if not officially, closed. I'll just remember the good things, like how it's helped launch my writing career. (I guess I can call it that?) One of the alternatives that have sprung up is Weeknight Writers. Their First Draft Fall event, whose goal is to create a first draft, will begin on October 1st and run through December 13th.

The premise of Queen Mantis: To solve a copycat serial killer case, a cop must ask for help from the original serial killer: his incarcerated mother. I've watched the first episode and so far the only character I like is the mother (no surprise there).

Current Mood: quixotic
Current Music: Bye, Summer - IU

schneefink

( My playthrough, up to around 16 hours in )

( general musings on Silksong/HK, vague gameplay spoilers )

angrboda

I have a project I want to do in the garden. I've been wanting to do it for a month now, but Husband told me to wait until now because that would give me a better chance of success.

I want to make a new bed with native plants for pollinators. A plant nursery that I have ordered from before offers just such a thing. A collection of plants and a plan for how to avoid putting the tallest one in front and the smallest one behind them (which I would 100% otherwise have done!). I call it the kit bed. :)

So first thing to do is basically just dig a big hole in the lawn. Husband said it was now late enough in the year and we've had some rain that I can think about starting.

Therefore it is of course going to rain solidly all afternoon and we're under a blue (lowest level, but still) weather warning for heavy rain and thunder.

*sigh*

rachelmanija

This novel appears to be a well-written and enjoyable but conventional haunted house story; it turns out to have a twist on that theme which I've never encountered before. I very much enjoyed discovering that for myself, so if you think you might too, don't read the spoilers.

A young couple, Emily and Freddie, move from London to Larkin Lodge, an old house in Dartmoor, while Emily's recovering from a serious accident. After she fell off a cliff, her heart stopped and one leg was permanently damaged. Doctors warned her and Freddie that she might suffer from post-sepsis mental complications, so when she starts perceiving weird things involving Larkin Lodge, both she and Freddie think it's probably her, not the house. Emily and Freddie's marriage is not the greatest, but is that something that was previously going on, or is it cracking under stress, or is the house having a bad effect on them?

Emily and Freddie are not the best people, but that really works for the story. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Spoilers! ( Read more... )

Content notes: Not even slightly gory or gross. Mention of a miscarriage (off-page, not described). Some violence, not graphic. No on-page animal harm, but the body of a dead raven is found.

musesfool

Despite getting a late start all weekend and being distracted by a new matching game on my phone (I can lose hours to these stupid games), I got some good cooking done!

Yesterday, I made garlic & mozzarella milk bread (pics), which turned out quite well even though I forgot the salt due to its weird placement in the recipe (in theory I understand why it is where it is, but in practice it makes no sense to do it that way), but I used salted butter, so I don't think I missed it, and the bread rose just fine.

This afternoon, I finally made this strawberry cheesecake since my cream cheese was well past its use-by date and my heavy cream was getting there! It's still chilling, but when I licked the spatula after pouring the filling into the pie plate, all I really tasted was the five-spice powder. Which I like! But it's not what I would expect given the amount of freeze-dried strawberry powder in it. I guess we'll see how it goes when I cut into it tomorrow. (I also have this issue with nutmeg - even when I try to go easy on it in something, it still is frequently the only thing I taste after using it. I don't know why!)

And then I finally got up and made meatballs with oregano and red wine vinegar to have for lunch during the week. This was a method my grandmother used to use, and it is a great way to eat meatballs (or veggies - she also used to make it with zucchini, and I imagine you could do other types of squash or eggplant this way) - you make and cook the meatballs and set them aside. Then you saute onions in some olive oil (or in the beef fat left if you've fried your meatballs - I do mine in the oven, so I just use oil) and lower the heat and let them caramelize a bit, then you put the meatballs back in, sprinkle about 1/8 cup of dried oregano over them, and then pour in 1/3 - 3/4 cup of red wine vinegar. Be careful as billows of deliciously pungent smoke will rise from your frying pan at that point! Then lower the heat and let it all simmer for 10 or 15 minutes. Good both hot and at room temperature! (I haven't made it with zucchini myself, but for that, you slice and fry or bake your zucchini, and then continue on with the onions/oregano/vinegar as described.)

I have taken the garbage out and started the dishwasher, so now I am prepared for the awfulness of Sunday night. Sigh.

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Current Mood: productive
Current Music: No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Beastie Boys

schneefink

Silksong is finally out! "Fortunately" I didn't make it home by 4pm on Thursday meaning I only had to wait a little over an hour of frequent refreshing until I could finally buy the game xD

It's so much fun! Very reminiscent of Hollow Knight in a good way: atmosphere, gameplay, level design... And very hard. But (most of) the fights are fun to figure out, and the successes feel great. Tbh the main reason why I wish it didn't take me so long is because I'm already really looking forward to watching others play, but I also don't want any spoilers.

( Minor gameplay spoilers )

My actual playthrough, the first almost ten hours, with plenty of spoilers:
(Benchmark, I have three achievements for defeating bosses so far and explored a bit further into the ~next region; and I strongly suspect the first three bosses will probably be the same for most people.)
( My actual playthrough, with spoilers )

Yesterday I played until 2am, today hopefully not quite as long. Tomorrow I'm at a friend's birthday party, and I might think the timing more unfortunate if I didn't suspect my wrists will be glad for the break... But I have no other plans for Sunday except play, looking forward to it. (Well, that and watch a few of the MCSR Playoffs finale matches when I need a break, we'll see.)

rydra_wong

Please enjoy this eloquent depiction of The Capra Demon Experience:

Watch on YouTube

(Content note for animal harm in the form of killing horrifying skinless zombie dogs. Also one man's slow descent into existential despair.)

This is a notorious point where a not insignificant number of people ragequit and stop playing the game altogether.

Also as previously mentioned I struggle badly with tracking multiple inputs, I have the reaction speed of a slime mould, and my default combat state is "panicked and flustered."

It took me about 7 hours (spread across multiple days -- admittedly, most of this time was doing the boss run again and again and again and then dying within seconds of the fight starting) and I am very proud of myself.

(And right now I am dealing with a medical stressor -- hopefully nothing, but had to go get some tests, waiting on results -- so I will take my distractions and wins where I can get them.)

musesfool

There's so much TV coming back soon:

- the new season of Only Murders in the Building starts on 9/8
- the new season of Slow Horses starts 9/24
- the new season of Abbott Elementary starts 10/1

And it's not tv, but the new season of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures also starts 10/1 - there was a new mini episode last night, featuring Alfred being the best. <3

Meanwhile, I still have not watched:

- season 2 of Andor
- season 2 of Wednesday
- season 2 of Poker Face (though I did watch the first episode - the one with Cynthia Erivo, who was fantastic)

And of course, China Beach is finally available on a streaming service I do not have, and without some of the iconic music they used, but it would definitely be worth checking out if I wanted to pay for another streamer, which I don't.

Instead, I seem to have fallen into another Elementary rewatch. Despite some of the ghastly murders, it is a very comforting watch and I love Joan and Sherlock's relationship so much. And I might be feeling a Killjoys rewatch coming up soon too. I guess we'll see.

There are other shows I keep meaning to check out but have not as of yet - there is just too much to watch and too little time.

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Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Wayfaring Stranger - Neko Case

musesfool

I made this sheet pan pancake for dinner last night (pic) and it was good, but I don't know that I'd call it a pancake - it is much thicker and not particularly fluffy. The texture is more "cake" than "pancake". But it was good with butter and syrup and will also provide several days of breakfast so I can't complain. It's super easy to throw together, too - no buttermilk needed. The handful of strawbs I had left had gone moldy in the fridge, but I had about 3/4 cup of frozen berries left in the freezer that I folded in and also about 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips that I sprinkled on top, so that worked out.

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Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Mets win!!!

schneefink

Past Life ended, and it was great. The teams were fantastic, the gimmick was fun but more in the background than in the previous too which was a nice change of pace, the improv was on point, the stories came together so well again.

I watched several videos each week, sometimes more sometimes less, and there's plenty I still want to watch eventually and some I want to watch again. I wanted to go over my notes again too to clean them up and add some more, but if I don't post them now I don't know when it will happen, so here is the first draft. (Which is already at 7k.)
I'm typing this while admiring my shiny new Life series desk mat btw, very pretty.

( #1 Early early on )

( #2 Tango with a mustache )

( #3 The Secret Society )

( #4 Joel with a mustache )

( #5 The Proposal )

( #6 Fire! )

( #7 - Records are made to be broken )

( #8 - The Finale )

rachelmanija

After disliking both The Hollow Places and The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher, and for similar reasons (idiot heroine who refused to believe in magic when it was happening right in front of her; annoying tone), I gave up on her works. But since lots of my customers like her, I ordered this book. And when it arrived, it was so beautiful that I had to pick it up and examine it. And then I figured I'd read a couple pages, just to get an idea of what it was about. Those couple pages quickly turned into the first chapter. Then the second. The next thing I knew, I was actually enjoying the book, and finished it with great pleasure.

Anja is a scientist specializing in poisons and antidotes, who regularly takes small doses of poison to understand their effects and test out antidotes. She saves the lives of poisoned people, sometimes. This gets her enough fame that one day the king shows up, asking her to save his daughter, Snow, who he believes is being poisoned...

This is a very loose retelling of "Snow White," making clever use of elements like the apple, the mirror, and the poison.

Like the other books of hers I read, this one is set in an unambiguously magical world and/or has a portal to an unambiguously magical world, and has a heroine who doesn't believe in magic. I guess this is an obligatory Kingfisher thing? At least in this one, Anja doesn't deny that things are happening when they're clearly happening, she just thinks that maybe there is some underlying scientific explanation. This makes at least some sense, as she's a scientist. (Though in my opinion, science is basically a framework and a worldview, and a scientist in a magical world would be doing experiments to figure out how magic works, not denying its existence.) In any case, Anja does not act like an idiot or a flat earther, but pursues the clues she finds and doesn't deny what they suggest. She's kind of monomaniacal, but in a fun way.

Hemlock & Silver meshes multiple genres. It's not a horror novel or even particularly dark for a fantasy, but it has some genuinely scary moments. It's often very funny. And one aspect of the story, while technically fantasy, is so methodically worked out and involves so much science (optics) that it feels like science fiction. There's also a murder mystery, a romance, a surprisingly agreeable rooster, and a talking cat. It all works together quite nicely.

nanila

Watch on YouTube

Despite all the Welsh holiday footage, Astro managed to sneak in here quite a lot. Meeting the talkative long-eared owl was one of the highlights. She had many and varied opinions.

rachelmanija

Poll #33561

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 120

View Respondents

Which books would you most like me to review?

View Answers

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher. The first book of hers I've actually liked!
54 (45.0%)

Lone Women, by Victor LaValle. Fantastic cross-genre western/historical/horror/fantasy.
37 (30.8%)

Into the Raging Sea, by Rachel Slade. The best nonfiction shipwreck book I've read since Shadow Divers.
41 (34.2%)

The Blacktongue Thief/The Daughter's War, by Christopher Buehlman. Excellent dark fantasy.
27 (22.5%)

The Bewitching, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Three timelines, all involving witches.
18 (15.0%)

Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Exactly what it sounds like.
36 (30.0%)

Archangel (etc), by Sharon Shinn. Lost colony romantic SF about genetically engineered angels.
39 (32.5%)

We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough. Really original haunted house novel.
36 (30.0%)

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones. Outstanding indigenous take on "Interview with the Vampire."
50 (41.7%)

When the Angels Left the Old Country, by Sacha Lamb. A Jewish demon and angel leave the old country; excellent voice, very Jewish.
65 (54.2%)

Some other book I mentioned reading but failed to review.
4 (3.3%)

musesfool

The bbq yesterday was fun! Baby Miss L continues to be a character - she's a little awkward but she manages to get up and down steps now. In fact, she stood on the steps and was like, "Jump! Jump!" and we were like, " um, no, no jumping off the steps!"

Anyway, there were a lot of desserts, but the strawberry cake was enjoyed. It smelled fantastic and tasted good too.

In other news, I did the August recs update earlier:

unfitforsociety has been updated for August 2025 with 12 recs in 2 fandoms:

* 11 Batfamily and 1 Batfamily/Spider-Man crossover

***

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Gravity - Vienna Teng

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Page generated Sep. 14th, 2025 11:21 pm

library style

an unacademic press

Reading

looking at the spot

The Friday Five on a Sunday

thunder's rolling down this track

(no subject)

Imagining Melinoe on a bicycle

despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cage

Write on

More Silksong

(no subject)

We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough

engine running hotter than a boiling kettle

Silksong! First impressions

Yesterday I beat the Capra demon

I'm going there no more to roam

can't run out the clock

Past Life

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

1SE for August 2025

Labor Day Book Poll

they've turned aside our stories of the gentle fall

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February 2023

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